Castaways
by WildeShipper
Summary: A stranger in his world now that the game is finally over, Davesprite searches for new meaning. A glowing green portal in the sky takes him to a world full of strange things and a certain jump-suited warrior.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** I am still semi-new to the homestuck fandom so please do let me know if there are any inaccuracies. I will very much appreciate any and all constructive criticism. This pairing started off as a joke between a friend and I, and then somewhere along the way we fell in love with it. As a side note; I am potentially willing to take prompts and request for other fics.

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You would think that a world created by a group of friends would have a place in it for all of them. That they would consider it a scandal should one of their own be a strange anomaly.

But… then. He wasn't really one of their own, was he? His own world was gone long ago, in another universe, another time. He was only a remnant now of game best forgotten by the surviving players. When they looked at him, he could tell. They saw in him only dark memories of horrific events and he knew that it pained most of them to talk to him. It pained him, too, to see the copies of his own friends alive and well. Mostly they were the same but mostly they were different. He wondered often if his John would have been like this John if he had lived. But if he had lived, then he would literally BE this John.

Timelines were a fucked up thought process, even for one who used to play them like an air traffic controller. The game was done and over with and Davesprite didn't really like to think about such things anymore. He was okay that his almost-friends avoided him, because he was happy to avoid them too. They all tried really hard, for a long while, to get along. Near the end of the game, Davesprite even thought that maybe he and Jade could end up somehow together. Things were going well. There was teenage flirting. She even seemed to understand that he was not just a Dave clone.

But it became pretty damn obvious that it wasn't going to happen when they arrived. She wasn't _his _ Jade and he couldn't compete with himself. How could you compete with yourself? Anyway, how could a strange orange bird-ghost think to compete with a human? Everybody seemed to know it wasn't going to work out and he was glad to avoid their looks of pity when things finally broke and the two made it official. John never seemed to even give him a chance, and Rose… well. It hurt him a lot to speak to Rose, after spending so much time with his own true ectosister and then having to leave her to die alone or fade away into nothing.

He was destined to drift away from them. For a long time, he simply explored the new world that they created, avoiding people and seeing the sights. And for a long time, this was satisfying. He'd had a lot of excitement in his life, after all. Time for some relaxation. But after some years, he grew sick of it. One could only live in a land of strangers for so long. And after some years, he heard rumors of a new place. A land of odd rules and strange creatures. Davesprite didn't know if it'd belong there. But he knew that he did not belong here.

Eventually, he found himself hovering in front of a strange green shimmering crack in the sky. It looked oddly colored through his dark shades, and the way that it twisted and glowed was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. This was absolutely what he had been searching for. With a silent sigh, the orange winged man flew through the portal.

Everything was green. Green and dark and swirling. Nothing stood still. Within the green were odd purple floating doors, scattered throughout the never ending space. Davesprite, for a moment, lowered his shades from his bright orange eyes to take it all in. It took a lot to amaze a bird boy with a sword through his stomach who had watched gods play games. But this was a land unlike any he'd seen before. It was a land of… doors and green. LODAG. Yo dog. Ha. Land of Yo Dawg. He smiled (anxiously?) and replaced his glasses. Time to explore.

He flew through the green, hardly needing to use his own wings. He seemed to simply float through the space. There was nothing but doors, as far as he could tell. So, with no other apparent choice, he glided to an ornate purple door and opened it. Inside was just a young boy in a cage. A normal human boy in a cage. They were in a room. There was nothing else but the black haired boy and the cage. He moved closer and offered a hello.

The boy noticed him and moved to the bars of the cage, gripping them tightly. As Davesprite moved closer the boy became agitated and starting speaking loudly and quickly, but in a language Davesprite didn't know. He recognized it as German from his travels, but hadn't bothered to learn the voices of people he couldn't contact.

Davesprite asked him if he wanted to be freed. Surprisingly, the boy shook his head and started speaking more wildly. He waved his hands as if he were pushing Davesprite away, desperate that he not approach. This made the winged man pause. And suddenly, the boy was glowing with a green aura and shifting and his shouts turned into vicious growls and then his clawed hands were making motions to draw him _closer_ not push him away. The cage started bending under the boys growing green furry shape and Davesprite booked it back out of that purple door before he was going to have to regrow yet another wing.

He was out of practice with trying to maintain a calm demeanor around people, and was visibly startled by the event. But then, this did not go against anything he had heard. He should have known that things like this could be found here. Wandering through random doors was probably not the best idea until he had things more figured out. Alright. Goal for now; explore and avoid secret rooms filled with angry werewolf creatures. Easy.

He moved on and started exploring again. After a bit he found some actual land; floating rocks of vegetation and not much else. He couldn't' even find anything living there, and so he moved on.

Just as he turned to leave the strange rock land, he found himself nearly floating into a door that he would have sworn wasn't there before and THEN suddenly the door slammed open, forcing him back: but any attempts at avoiding the door were made null and void because what came out of the door flung hard into him anyway and he and the thing were tumbling backwards through green space in a black and white and green mess.

Before they could even figure out what the hell was going on, out of the door came three giant green lizards with glowing red eyes. Davesprite was pushed aside and suddenly his tanglebuddy was swooping at the lizards, firing a blast of bright green from his palm. It hit the big lizard in the middle hard, sending him flying straight backwards through the open door. The other two watched with big reptilian eyes and then, using what brainpower they had, scrambled after their mob boss. The other guy moved forward and slammed the door hard before turning away and glaring suspiciously at Davesprite.

"You want some of this too?" he shouted, raising a hand that started to glow.

Davesprite raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, trying to avoid being shot. "No, I'm cool," he answered, "I got enough already, thanks."

There was a long moment there while the two stared at each other. Davesprite, a floating orange man with dark shades, two big wings, and a sword stuck through his middle. The other man was wearing some kind of black and white jumpsuit, a white symbol across the black chest, floppy white hair, startling green eyes. And, oh, he was also floating.

The green glow slowly faded from the guy's white hand, and he slowly offered it in a handshake. "Well, good, I guess. That's a new one."

Davesprite took it and they shared a slow, sort of awkward shake. "I'm Dave," he offered, wishing he was a tad more in practice with the social skills.

"Danny." There was a bit more of an awkward pause as the two men started at each other, and then Danny said, "You are not green."

"Am I supposed to be? Is that a law here?"

"Ha, some might say so. Are you…" another small pause, this time while Dave was studied, "you are a ghost, right?"

"A ghost? Am I dead? I don't think I'm dead yet. I think I managed to ninja dodge that one. Somehow." Dave suddenly remembered the fact that he had a sword sticking out of his stomach. "Well," he clarified, "I am 100% sure that I am not a ghost."

"Uh…huh. Right." Danny was clearly not entirely convinced about that, Davesprite could tell, but nobody was killing each other so all things were good. "So. You wanna hunt some ghosts?"

"Yeah okay."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thank you very much for all your reviews and follows, guys! I didn't expect even this small amount of praise for this crackship story written on a whim. You're all amazing and I suppose I will continue writing this for you. ;p Hopefully I have since improved on the small amount of lovely constructive criticism I have received, but bear with me if I am still terrible in certain regards.

I am going to warn you guys, though, that I'm just going to delete comments that only say 'caw caw motherfuckers' because… well… really? XD I appreciate that you are reviewing at all but I think that reviews like that are borderline spam. Thanks anyway, though!

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Davesprite followed his new strange companion for a bit in what he felt was a comfortably awkward silence. He wasn't sure what was going to happen here nor did he entirely know whether the other man was going to turn out as an enemy in the long run, but for now he was content to be with him. After so long alone and abandoned, any semblance of friendly contact was fine by him. He wasn't sure if Dan over there was quite as comfortable as he was, though, but maybe that was just the sprite's lack of human contact talking. Then again, of course, even a stranger from this weird green zone would be justified in be a bit anxious around a floating orange bird man. He wasn't green, after all, but stuck out like a sore fruity thumb. And green seemed to be very, very in this season.

After some few minutes had passed, even lonely boy was starting to get a little fidgety about the situation, and he finally spoke up, moving through the wibbly atmosphere to rise to Danny's side rather than trail somewhat behind him. "Do we have a specific target in mind? Or do you just wander around this lime jello land with your eyes peeled for any lost sucker who is asking to get his ass handed to him?"

"Oh, well, sometimes both," his companion replied with a shrug of his wide shoulders, "but right now I'm not quite sure."

"How is one 'not quite sure' whether they are aimlessly wandering or not? Are we looking for a specific somebody but doing it in the most convoluted random way possible? Should we be wearing blindfolds? I'll need one in orange so I don't clash."

"Watch those sassy feathers, birdman," Danny called him out, but he did so with a smirk and a glint in his bright green eyes. Then he shrugged again, turning his head to observe the wide expanse broken only by the variety of doors. "Things are acting strange around here."

Dave gave him a look that very cleared stated his oh-so-shocked opinion of that statement. In response, Danny reached out and punched him in the shoulder, in that friendly way the menfolk have. That shocked the discarded game sprite, but his new friend clearly wasn't affected by the careless touch. "Oh, ha, ha. What are you, a mocking bird?"

"Only the mockingest of mockingbirds get to wear this color," Dave answered, wings stretching with mock pride. "They had to write an entire book on how to take care of us and our sass, you know. It's so important that everyone has to read it at least three times in school, like it's their fucking sass prevention bible."

"Yeah, that is so totally exactly what I got out of that book. I can handle all your sass. Shoot it down like it's an innocent black man." There was a pause. "Wow sorry that was terrible."

Dave nodded. "Yeah man that was pretty damn racist of you."

"Far be it for a ghost to care about race."

"Oh, so you are a ghost then officially? Like a real live dead ghost, up from the grave and ready to haunt that one crazy cat lady that nobody is going to believe?" Dave had stopped moving by this point and Danny too was at a standstill, both of their wispy tails fluttering in the ghastly breeze as they eyed each other afresh.

"Sort of," Danny said slowly. "I am and I'm not. I'm also human. I can switch back and forth." He waited, clearly ready to judge Dave's reaction.

His reaction, of course, was to shrug. He'd seen a hell of a lot weirder things in his time. And in other people's times. "That's some kind of badass super power. Stalking the ladies' showers during the school day, tracking down dead things vigilante style by night."

Danny laughed, a bit relieved. "Yeah, basically."

"So what, did you die halfway? Or wait, I bet it was the social half of you that died after you went around wearing that black and white wetsuit."

"Excuse me but jumpsuits are cool!" Danny insisted in a mostly serious manner. "And I don't think a guy who dipped himself in paint is one to talk. No, I was in a sort of lab accident. A long time ago."

"So, you used to be a normal human?" Davesprite asked.

"Yeah. A long time ago."

Dave took a deep breath and sighed. "Me too."

And when they each met the other's eyes the next moment, there was a look of understanding between them.

A moment later, and then Davesprite spoke again to break the increasingly unsettling silence between the two. "So, now, what was this about something strange going on in this wobbly place?"

"Oh, it's called the Ghost Zone officially," Danny answered, relieved himself to be on a new topic for now, "and usually it's kind of one big free-for-all shit storm around here. But lately more things are attacking in groups and I keep getting this sort of hive-mind feeling from ghosts around here. Like they aren't acting like themselves and they all have the same purpose."

"What purpose?"

A shrug was the response. "I don't really know. I haven't caught any in the middle of doing anything shocking and any I do catch otherwise aren't really inclined or capable of telling me."

"I guess you must not speak mutant ghost lizard, then," Dave commented, recalling the episode a while before.

"Not yet, but I'm all signed up for the class. Starts Tuesday."

"So we're just wandering around but also looking for ghosts doing suspicious things." Davesprite said, summing the situation up.

Danny nodded. "Which is exactly what I said before your sass got in the way."

Dave waved him off with one hand. "Yeah, yeah. So, where are we aimlessly wandering to first?"

Hands on his hips, Danny turned to survey his ghostly kingdom. "I dunno. We can start hitting up some doors to find someone to interrogate I guess?"

"Hell yeah," Dave agreed, pretending to crack his knuckles in eagerness and fluttering his wings, "let's treat this town to a fucking storm of intense FBI trick-or-treating."


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! Sorry for the bit of a longer delay: I've been moving back to collegetown and getting life arranged and that sort of thing. Thank you all for the reviews! I have had a couple people asking me about Dave & Danny's ages, so I'll just tell you that they are probably about 20ish at this point. I won't complain if you picture them a tad older or younger, though. That's the only little bit of information I'm going to flat out give you at this point, though. You'll have to wait and see what else happens or has happened in the past. (: Reviews and follows make me happy and inspire me to write. Thank you!

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How do you pick the very first door victim in your quest for knowledge? You pick the raddest looking one, of course. The dynamic duo skipped the first three doors by virtue of their utter lack of cool, and settled on the fourth spooky floating door that they came upon. It had a fancy molded trim and a big ass knocker, and there was even an elaborate little window right at eye level. Davesprite tried to look through the window to try and be prepared for what was beyond, but all he saw was more swirling green bullshit. It was like the door was just standing there and didn't connect to anything. (Which, to be fair, was exactly what the rest of the door looked like anyway, just sitting there).

The two looked at each other, shrugged, and then Danny, by virtue of being the closest, reached out and took the ornate doorknob in his hand. He twisted, the door clicked, and then with a light push it swung open.

The rectangular opening spread ghostly light into what looked to be the depths of a cave. Cold and damp cave air came creeping out, causing Dave's plumage to perk up in response. Danny didn't seem too bothered by the chill, but Davesprite was getting actual feathery goosebumps. It was pretty unfair, but appaerently game sprites didn't get any fancy resistance to extreme temperatures. Or, at least, if they did, Davesprite's body sure hadn't gotten the memo.

Dave would have been A-OK with shutting this dingy door and finding some place with a tropical beach paradise and a pair of fine nice ladybirds, but Danny pushed through with a gung-ho grin and an excited "Let's go!" So they went.

And the cave didn't really get much better. It stayed damp and cold, though it didn't get any damper or colder, at least. Sometimes they came across glowing mushrooms or shiny pools of liquid, but a mushroom wasn't really about to give them any advice. Unless they decided to eat it. Then even the walls might have something helpful to say.

At the first pool, they stopped and looked in, but they only saw their handsome reflection's looking back. It was kind of a little bit of a shock for both of them, seeing themselves after so long without bothering to look for a mirror. The crystal clear pool provided a nearly perfect reflection, and the two of them were nearly evenly surprised by their aged faces. It was something left unsaid between them, but neither complained at the length of time they looked upon the waters and a mutual understanding passed between the worldly loners.

Finally they got over the fact that they looked like actual grown men, and kept going. Still, the cave went on. The ground slanted up, then it slanted down. After a few minutes of moving, Davesprite asked, "Are we going into the cave, or out of it?"

Danny shrugged, his shaggy white hair glowing in the eerie light of the cave almost as if there were blacklight fireflies crawling on the walls. "Fuck if I know. Hopefully there's at least something sentient at the end of the tunnel or we just spent a lot of time on a pretty weird walk together."

"Worst date I've ever been on," Dave quipped.

"Well we aren't being attacked by ghosts, so this honestly beats out some I've had," Danny replied.

And then they were attacked by ghosts.

From the darkness ahead of them a long tongue shot out swiftly, wrapping its way around Davesprite's lower waist. For a split second time seemed to stand still, and the orange sprite could see, at the end of the disgustingly sticky tongue, a pair of bright eyes attached to an equally bright green web-toed salamander. The tongue started to pull at him, and, not being a creature that had any legs to brace him in place, Dave was dragged towards the grinning ghost. He cussed under his breath and pulled the trusty chest sword from his body, flinching at the strange absent pain it caused, as usual.

And then there was salamander number two, who appeared from nowhere next to the first and shot his own long tongue towards Danny. The ghost kid simply turned intangible and let the slimy trap shoot past and through him. "Salamanders don't even DO that," he commented absently, clearly not too concerned about the present situation.

"Tell that to this fucker!" Dave cursed, poking his sword at the round nose of the creature-ghost holding him. In defense the salamander pulled the same trick as Danny had and disappeared for a moment, the orange blade slicing right through the spot where he wasn't. He avoided the blade, but he also let his winged prey pass through the tongue trap, and Dave wheeled around with a flap of his wings to meet up with Danny. "I always knew salamanders were a bunch of devils."

"You've met a lot of salamanders, I take it?" Danny raised a gloved hand and shot out a bright green ray towards the two creatures, hitting one in the face. It gurgle-hissed at him ducked, one big wet eye blinking furiously.

"They trap you with the cute look and then bam, suddenly the theme is "Dave: it's what's for dinner." The injured amphibian ghost suddenly rushed them, tail flashing angrily behind him. It leapt to strike, and witty banter sometimes isn't the most productive means of fighting, it was able to latch itself solidly onto Danny's out-stretched out.

He panicked for a moment and tried to shake the creature off. Then, suddenly, he realized that it was just hanging there. Looking angry. "It doesn't even have teeth," Danny commented, eyeing the creature attached to his arm.

"Does it have acid spit?" Dave eyed the other one, but the first salamander was just staring back at his helpless companion. Even he knew how stupid they were.

"I don't…. think so?" Everybody was at a standstill. The angry salamander blinked again.

Suddenly, a green ray shot right passed Dave's head and fizzled into the wet stone behind him with a dangerous spark. A flash of light came again from the darkness and Davesprite reacted instantly with an old and natural instinct. Time seemed to slow. The blinking amphibian was caught with one eye closed in a grotesque wink. Danny was turning towards him in reaction to the first shot, but he wasn't going to avoid getting hit by the second one, which came slowly, slowly towards them now. It had been a long time since the sprite had done this. He hadn't even been sure if he still could, to be honest, and it wasn't a voluntary action. There was danger and part of him jumped at the chance for action. Dave wasn't sure if he was glad for that or not, but for now he used the opportunity and pushed Danny out of the line of fire.

Time resumed and the shot again hit the wall in a flicker, the arm-biting salamander was flung backwards through the air, and the half ghost man was caught looking pretty damn confused at his new position. "What did you just-?" he asked, looking with bright eyes at the orange bird.

And then time stopped. Not slowed this time, but flat-out stopped. Davesprite assumed a look of equal surprise, because this was not him. There was no familiar hum attached to this time altercation; no fuzzy feeling in his bones. And Danny was moving too. "What is going on?" he asked, looking around at the frozen cave.

Suddenly, a blur appeared before them, and before the two of them could properly raise their weapons, a hooded figure faded into being, one hand held in a peaceful motion, the other wielding a tall staff. Davesprite moved to attack anyway, but Danny held him back with a "Wait," and a motion of his hand. Cautious, Dave lowered his sword, but his grip on it did not lessen. "What the hell is going on?" he repeated.

The hooded figure reached his free hand and pulled back his hood, revealing a sickly blue face with a giant red scar down one side. "I could ask you the same question," the ghost said, staring hard at Dave.

"Clockwork?" Danny asked warily, "What do you want?"

"Well, first I would like to know why you are attacking innocent mushroom salamanders," the man replied calmly. He glided forward and picked the falling salamander from the air, flipping him over and setting him gently on the rocky ground.

"They attacked us first," Danny responded sullenly, wiping ghost slime off of his arm and onto his jumpsuit.

Confused, Davesprite expressed confusion yet again. He seemed to be the only one who didn't know what was up with the time flow, for once. "Who the fuck is this person?"

Danny made a sound of disgust. "He calls himself Clockwork, and he's part of a group who thinks that they know what is best for the world." Clearly, the man did not really agree with that thought.

There was a heavy sigh. "I will not apologize to you any more, Phantom. I cannot make exceptions. Not even for world-saving heroes."

"Yet you meddle constantly in my affairs when it suits you." The look in Danny's eyes was dark and dangerous. There seemed to be a ghastly glowing prickling up from his body.

"I am not here to discuss old issues."

Seeking to dissolve the amounting tension, Davesprite spoke up. "What, then," he asked, "are you here for?"

Clockwork's attention turned to the sprite, and he looked the orange floating bird up and down, slowly. "I am here to warn the Phantom yet again."

"Oh fuck this," Danny exclaimed, "I don't even care what you have to say anymore. I told you last time that I never wanted to see you again. What right do you have to stop my life at your every whim?"

"I seek only the protection of the timeline." Davesprite nodded shortly. Hey, he was okay with that line of thinking. The next statement was not, however, something that he subscribed to. Clockwork turned his bright eyes directly towards him and said, solemnly, "The winged ghost is an abomination."


End file.
